Jail term for man who stole backhoe

Saturday

Dec 14, 2013 at 6:00 AM

By Gary V. Murray TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

WORCESTER — A Leominster man has been sentenced to four years in jail after pleading guilty to some of the charges lodged against him last month when he was arrested in Auburn for allegedly driving a stolen backhoe while under the influence of alcohol.

Auburn police said they arrested Daniel J. Scott, 52, of 101 Cumberland Road, Leominster, the night of Nov. 20 after they saw himdriving a backhoe erratically on Upland Street near the Pakachoag Golf Course. Investigators said the backhoe had been stolen in Worcester and that a new $7,000 snowplow that was in the front bucket had been stolen in Auburn.

Mr. Scott, who has a 17-page criminal record, was charged with a seventh offense of drunken driving, larceny over $250, possession of cocaine, resisting arrest, failure to stop for police and a marked lanes violation.

He was later charged by Worcester police with larceny over $250 related to the theft of the backhoe.

Mr. Scott was sentenced to four years in the House of Correction Thursday after pleading guilty in Central District Court to the larceny and cocaine charges.

Judge Andrew M. D'Angelo sentenced Mr. Scott to consecutive two-year House of Correction sentences on one of the larceny charges and the cocaine possession charge and to a consecutive one-year jail term on the other larceny charge.

The remaining charges against him are pending and were continued to Jan. 23.

Mr. Scott was convicted in 1993 in connection with a failed attempt to blow up a state police investigative unit office in Auburn to destroy drug evidence that was stored there; he was sentenced to nine to 10 years in state prison.